


Bloodsplatter III: The Splattening

by Windfighter



Series: 100 SSSS-fics [20]
Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 22:57:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15229800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windfighter/pseuds/Windfighter
Summary: Reynir's body is found in an alley and Sigrun and Emil gets put on the case. Their only clue is a pipe found in Reynir's pocket.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another story for the 100 SSSS-fic challenge, inspired by prompt number 20: Fortitude
> 
> Police AU I guess?
> 
> There's probably lots of misstakes in these first two chapters because it's been ages since I wrote them (haha, I sound like I don't do mistakes nowadays but I do) and I don't feel like going into them and cleaning them up, there are too many other stories demanding my attention.... They're still awesome (apart from the obvious word-count rambling you'll come across but just ignore that) so have fun!
> 
> uuuh, fair warning tho: there is a kinda gross scene with a character with their hands in another's guts. There wasn't an appropriate warning-box to tick off (the graphic depiction of violence is prolly the closest but it's not violence so...) so warning you here!

"So, tell me exactly what happened."

Emil put his pen to the paper, and looked at Tuuri. She wrapped her hands around the cup of tea Polisinspektör Sigrun had given her and bit her lower lip.

"I was just going to work. When I rounded the corner the braid came into my view and I looked up to see where it came from. That's... That's when I saw his body..."

"And you didn't touch anything?"

"N-no! I ran away from the scene as fast as I could!"

"Okay, okay", Emil raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "Was there any detail you noticed, anything that didn't seem... right?"

"It was a body tied up in the middle of the street. Everything was wrong with it! Why did this happen? Why here? We've never had anything like this happen here before..."

Emil looked towards Sigrun, who came out from the street where the body was. She noticed Tuuri's upset eyes and came up to them.

"Is my partner treating you right?"

Tuuri nodded and Sigrun patted her shoulder.

"He can be a bit stupid sometimes, but don't worry, the two of us will have this murder solved in no time. Do you know the person?"

Tuuri swallowed. Emil had already asked her, but she might as well repeat it to Sigrun.

"Everyone knew him. He was the town's bard, telling stories and entertaining people. His name is... was... Reynir. His parents own a farm outside the city and he used to help them herd the sheep."

"Can you think of someone who'd want to hurt him?" Emil asked, taking a tighter grip around his pen.

Tuuri shook her head, took a sip from the tea.

"Everyone enjoyed his company. He was always so cheerfull... I can't... Why would anyone want to do this to _anyone_?"

Emil looked at Sigrun, who laid an arm on Tuuri's shoulder and handed her a card.

"Thank you for your help. If you think of anything more that can be of interest for the investigation, feel free to contact us." Tuuri made a move to grab the card, but Sigrun pulled it back. "Wait, let me add my private number, in case you just need to talk."

Sigrun quickly noted her number down, then handed the card to Tuuri. Tuuri accepted it, thanked the officer and put the card in her pocket. Emil looked confused at Sigrun, but put his notebook back into his pocket and followed her to the alley. Emil got tangled up in the braid, almost fell over, but Sigrun caught him and pulled him free of the red hair that had him caught. She pointed above them and Emil looked up.

The body hung from the buildings with thick wires, tied to his torso, his wrists and his ankles. A few of the other policemen were currently trying to get the body down, but had problems with the wires.

"Steel wires", Sigrun explained. "They won't get them off without special equipment."

Emil looked at the body again. It hung around 3 meters off the ground, with the braid just at the right height for anyone to walk into it. The blue robe was a bit bloody, but not as much as he thought when he heard about the murdered body.

"Do we know how he died?"

"Not yet, we haven't been able to come close enough to examine the body."

The wires were fastened at the top of the buildings and Emil and Sigrun climbed up using the ladder that had been put up. Sigrun crouched next to Polisassistent Torbjörn to ask how they were doing and Emil leaned out over the edge of the building. They were about 8 meter off the ground and he let his eyes trail along the wire to Reynir's body. He noticed a board at Reynir's back and averted his eyes again. Sigrun came up to him, to see what he was looking at, and turned him away from the edge when she saw it.

"Isn't it enough to murder someone? Is it necessary to go through all this trouble to humiliate him?"

She patted his back.

"I don't know how murderers think, but there must be some reason. There always is. And if we can figure out the reason we'll be able to catch the murderer." She gestured out towards the city. "It's not like we have many possible culprits."

"Only like 2.000 people", Emil said. "It'll take us about a year to interrogate all of them."

"We'll find out more when we get the body down, and that'll help us narrow down the number of suspects. Don't worry, we'll get this solved."

"We're going to get some better tools, you should head back to the station. I think Kriminalkommissarie Madsen might need you for some other cases." Torbjörn put his hands at his sides. "It's not like you can do anything here anyway. Taru, you coming?"

Taru got up from the roof, dried her hands on her pants and followed Torbjörn down the ladder. Sigrun and Emil looked at each other before taking Torbjörn's advice. Sigrun was first down the ladder, and Emil stopped halfway down, tried to notice anything else about the body, but nothing. A sound caused him to turn towards the roof again and he could see a slender figure diving behind the edge and the shadow quickly moving away. He continued down.

"I think there was someone up there..."

"Think it's the culprit?"

Emil shook his head and they started walking towards the car.

"Nah, he was kinda thin, I guess it'd require someone large and strong to do this", Emil gestured towards the wires. "But I wonder what they were doing here..."

"We'll find it out. You gonna let me drive this time?"

"Pff, after last time? No way, you almost did us in." He dangled the keys infront of her. "I'll be doing the driving until you get a driver's licence."

"I get it, I'll try to get time for it next month."

Both of them settled down inside the car, Emil started it up and they drove through the city to the station. Kriminalkommissarie Madsen looked at them as they entered.

"Good thing you're back. We have a reported theft that needs looking into. You've met Mister Andersen before so I think you're the best suited for the job. He's waiting for you at home. Hurry along now."

"Yeah, yeah, we're just getting a cup of coffee before we head to uncle Trond", Sigrun said and walked past him. Mikkel made a move to grab her, but she evaded skillfully. "No use trying to solve crimes on low energy levels anyway. Emil, you coming?"

Emil looked at Mikkel, who looked sternly after Sigrun, and then hurried after his partner. She gave him a cup and they quickly chugged it down before leaving the station again. Trond lived a bit outside of the city, in a large mansion, together with a butler and a maid. All his relatives had moved away from the city a long time ago, and while he was bitter over it he also said it gave him more freedom.

The butler opened the door before Sigrun even knocked and led the two of them through the house into the study from which Trond took care of his business. The butler presented them when they entered, but Trond didn't turn towards them and they waited patiently by the door for him to say something.

"I assume Kriminalkommissarie Madsen sent you for the report I made."

"Yes", Emil said, taking his notebook and pen out of the pocket again. "We're going to need to ask you some questions..."

Trond slowly and dramatically turned around, looked at them.

"I will be frank with you. I want this to be treated discreetly. No one is to know about what has happened except the four of us. Nothing is to be leaked to the news, to other colleagues, to friends or to family. Is it understood?"

Sigrun and Emil nodded and Trond leaned back in the chair.

"I noticed it when I came back from town yesterday. Someone had opened the safe. There are only two people who know the combination: Me and my butler. I certainly didn't open it and I know my butler didn't do it either. He was out of town to visit his sick mother, he came back this morning."

"We're going to need to talk to your butler", Sigrun said, leaning forward, "but for now, can you show us the safe?"

"It's right here", Trond motioned towards one of the paintings on the wall and got up from the chair. "It's a Rosengren, sturdy and hard to break into. It can be done, of course, like with any other safe, there is nothing that's really stealth-proof."

He moved the painting and revealed the safe. Emil and Sigrun came closer.

"Problem is, it hadn't been forced opened. That would have left marks and it would have stayed open. Someone figured out the code, opened it and closed it again in hope that I wouldn't notice what had been done."

Sigrun looked closer, tried to spot anything that showed that the safe had been broken open, but nothing and she moved back again. Emil turned towards Trond.

"Are you sure you and your butler are the only ones who know the code?"

"Of course I am!" Trond moved the painting back and settled down at the desk again. "I'm old, not senile. I'd be stupid to give the code away to anyone who wanders by."

"Was your maid at home yesterday? Would she have heard anyone entering?"

"She was in her own room the whole day, working on something for her children. You can ask her yourself."

"Did anyone knew both you and your butler would be gone yesterday?"

Trond let out a sigh.

"Of course not. I'm not in the habit of telling people what I plan for the day, and only the three of us knew my butler would be gone."

Emil looked at his notebook, scratched his head with the pen.

"What was it that got stolen?"

"Now he's asking the real questions!" Trond said, turned to Sigrun. "You'd think any thief would take money, or securities, but... The only thing that got stolen was a tobacco pipe I've inherited from my late father. Even the diamonds got left alone."

"That is certainly... a thief with special tastes", Sigrun said and looked thoughtfully out the window. Emil jolted the information down and turned to Trond again.

"What kind of pipe was it?"

"Home made. My grandfather made it for my father when he was young."

"Why would anyone want to steal a tobacco pipe?" Emil scratched his head again.

"A thief with a bad sense of humour." Trond leaned back in the chair. "You may leave now, the butler and the maid will answer any questions you may have."

He turned the chair around again and the door opened up. Sigrun laid a hand on Emil's back, leading the younger police out of the room. The butler led them downstairs where the maid was waiting and Emil and Sigrun settled down at the table, the butler placing himself on the other side, next to the maid.

"We want to know what you were doing yesterday", Sigrun said. "Don't leave out any details."

"Well..." the maid started. "I woke up at 5, in order to prepare breakfast. Mister Andersen wants breakfast served at 6 sharp. So I went to the bathroom, got dressed..."

"Whoa", Sigrun interrupted, "okay, maybe we don't need _all_ details."

"For breakfast I made his usual cup of coffee, an open faced smoked salmon sandwich, as well as omelette with smoked salmon. While he was eating I cleaned his study, sweeping the floor, opening the windows and dusting the shelves so it was fresh for him to come in there after breakfast. After that I took care of the bedroom, hung the bedclothes in the garden to air, watered the plants. I have asked him to get another maid, there's too much to do only for me, but he never listens!"

Sigrun stretched over the table and patted the maid's shoulder. The maid took a deep breath and continued.

"I enjoy working with Mister Andersen, it's not that. I can take care of most work at my own pace and whatever order I chose, as long as he gets breakfast on time and his study clean in the morning. Anyway, I took care of the dishes while the bedclothes was airing, and then made the bed. After that I sweeped the rest of the floors in the house. I was going to prepare lunch after that, but he called me in and told me he was going to go to the town for lunch, so I did the rest of my cleaning duties instead. He left at noon, told me I woulnd't need to prepare dinner either, and I retired back into my room. I'm working on a sewing project for my children, their birthday is coming up soon. They're twins, you see."

"Do they live here as well?"

The maid shook her head at Emil's question.

"Mister Andersen is not very fond of children. They live with my mother in the city. It's much closer to the school that way."

"When did Trond return from the city?"

"Around seven. He yelled at me for not opening the door for him, but I hadn't heard the car stop by the door. He went into his study and I started closing all the windows in the house when he called for me. He asked me if I had let someone into his study, but I told him I had been busy with my project the whole afternoon. No one had even passed the house, or at least not rung the door bell. I would have heard that."

She looked at the butler, who nodded encouraging, and she continued.

"He told me to leave again and I finished the rest of my daily duties, laid out the clothes he would need for today, set the table for breakfast, and then went into my own chamber again. It was already nine, so I worked for one more hour before going to bed."

Sigrun nodded, turned to the butler.

"And you?"

"I was at my mother's residence yesterday. I arrived there at the evening before. If you want to ask her yourself I can call her up for you."

"No need, we'll be contacting her ourselves. When exactly did you arrive?"

"At seven in the evening."

"Did you ever leave your mother's residence?"

"Not until it was time to head back home. At 6 just this morning."

"Alright", Sigrun got up and Emil quickly followed her lead. "We will contact you if there's anything else we need to ask, and if you figure out anything that can help with the investigation, just call this number. "

Sigrun handed the butler one of her cards, and he took the card, put it in his pocket and led Emil and Sigrun to the door, opening it for them and closing it behind them. Emil scratched his head, but followed Sigrun to the car.

"They're lying”, she said.

"Buh?"

She motioned for him to get in the car and he did so, started the engine and drove back towards the city.

"All three of them are lying. I don't know about what though... and why."

"You think the butler did it?"

"Hard to say." She put her hands behind her head and leaned back. "I guess he could have told the maid what the combination was."

"Should we have looked for fingerprints?"

"Wouldn't have given us anything. Both Trond and the butler wore gloves, and the maid said she cleans the study every morning. If she's guilty she would have made sure to wipe it clean and I'm certain she did that anyway. There wasn't dust anywhere in the study. It's just..."

Sigrun looked back at the road and Emil looked at the house in the rearview mirror and nodded.

"Yeah, I know what you mean... Something didn't add up. And... why did he keep the pipe in the safe?"

Sigrun shrugged. Emil parked the car outside the police station, but neither of them got out, both looking through the window, letting their minds wander. After about ten minutes someone knocked on the roof and Mikkel's face appeared.

"The two of you sleeping on the job? What did Mister Andersen say?"

Emil was about to answer but Sigrun grabbed his arm and shook her head. Emil shut his mouth again and Sigrun got out, rested her arm against the roof.

"Not much, but don't worry, we'll have it solved in no time."

"I most certainly hope so. Mister Andersen is a highly esteemed member of our society and it would be bad news for the force if we could not help him."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Don't worry your sideburns, Madsen, we'll have this case solved before you know it."

Mikkel looked at her, then shook his head and walked back inside. Emil opened the door, got out and looked at Sigrun. She smiled towards him.

"Uncle Trond told us not to tell anyone, I assume that means even our boss."

"...uncle?"

"Old friend to the family. He doesn't like it when I call him uncle though. He's the one who got me into the police to begin with."

Sigrun slapped her forehead.

"Shoot, I should have asked him about the murder! Come on, we've got work to do."

She hurried after Mikkel, leaving Emil to lock up the car. He looked after her, but a sound made him shift his gaze to the roof of the station. A thin figure looked at him, then dived behind the edge and disappeared. Emil hurried to the fire escape, climbed up it and looked around. Nothing. He let out a sigh and climbed down again, and almost landed on Torbjörn when he slid the last few meters.

"Emil, there you are! I've been looking for you!" Torbjörn laid an arm around Emil's shoulders. "We managed to get the body down, Siv is performing an autopsy on it now. From what I could see the cause of death was a blunt object to the head, but the autopsy will give us more details."

Torbjörn led Emil through the station, down to the lower floors of the building. Emil's eyes fell on some plastic bags spread out over one of the tables.

"Is this...?"

Torbjörn nodded and Emil broke free of Torbjörn's grip to look closer at the items. There was the blue jacket, Emil could see the blood stains easier now that he could look closer. It was far from enough to indicate head trauma as Torbjörn had described it, but the murderer could have put the jacket on after the deed was done. There was a wallet, an ID card and... Emil picked up the last object. A tobacco pipe.

Emil bit his lower lip, looked closer at the pipe. It seemed old, handmade. Could it be the one stolen from Trond Andersen?

"Sigrun!" he called when he saw his partner approaching. "You've seen this before?"

She came up to him, looked at the pipe and shook her head. Torbjörn looked between the two of them, then patted Emil on the shoulder.

"Didn't think you were interested in the history of smoking. That one is a fine pipe indeed." He carefully took the bag from Emil. "Yes, I remember my granddad had one of these. Only 100 were ever made, most have been destroyed by time. It seems kind of weird that a shepherd would have one... They're very expensive, you know."

"Of course they are", Emil muttered, looking at Sigrun.

"I think Mikkel have one of these as well, I saw one on his desk yesterday", Torbjörn added. "He might be able to tell you more about them."

"Of course he have", Emil muttered and looked meaningly at Sigrun. Sigrun lifted her hands, gesturing that she didn't want a fight to break out, at least not there. Torbjörn looked between the two of them, then grabbed Emil again.

"But that was not what we came down here for! Come on, I bet Siv is dying to tell you about the body!" He stopped for a second. "Maybe dying isn't the most appropriate word to use, but you know what I mean." He started walking again, and stopped once more. "Oh, Emil. I know you've seen dead bodies before but, well... the toilet is there if you need to throw up or something. It isn't pretty."

"How bad can it be?" Sigrun said, but instantly regretted her choice of word when she opened the door to Siv's workroom.

Siv stood with her hands down the corpse's stomach, fishing up whatever was in there. She looked up when she heard the door open and pulled her hands out, spilling blood and gutjuices over her working clothes. She took off the gloves, hurried to Sigrun and shook her hand.

”Welcome, sorry I'm not quite done yet.”

Siv threw the gloves into the trashbin and offered Sigrun and Emil clean ones before putting on new ones herself. She pressed some buttons on the computer while Sigrun curiously leaned over the corpse and Emil made sure to look in the other direction.

”This is hopeless, nothing ever works...” Siv said and punched the computer.

”So, what are you doing with the body?” Sigrun asked, leaning a little bit closer.

Siv gave the computer another punch before turning back to Sigrun and the corpse, letting out a sigh as the computer sprung to life.

”Well”, she started as she walked up to Sigrun, ”I guess Torbjörn explained that for the moment we suspect head trauma to be the cause of death, but if you look here...” She turned Reynir's head to the side. ”...not very much blood, is there?”

Emil couldn't look away any longer and both he and Sigrun nodded at her words. Siv's fingers dug in the red hair, pulled it away as much as she could, and Emil and Sigrun walked closer to see what she wanted to show them.

”Of course, head trauma can kill you without there being much blood, but not with this kind of damage.”

The back of Reynir's head had been smashed in and Emil got greener in the face. Sigrun pointed to something in the middle of the damaged area.

”What's that?”

”Oh, that...” Siv let go of Reynir's head again and walked to the other table, lifting a large nail and a board. ”He had been nailed to this. Or... this was nailed to him. One nail in the head, one between his shoulder blades and one close to the tailbone.” She put the objects on the table again. ”I can't believe anyone would do something like that...”

She walked over to the computer again, pulling off her gloves and trashing them before she started looking through the files. The door creeked a little as Torbjörn and Emil snuck out and Sigrun continued cautiously poking the body while waiting for Siv.

”As you can see here...”

Sigrun turned around and looked at the x-rays Siv was showing on the computer.

”...he has been subjected to a lot of violence. His wrists are broken, meaning he might have been tied up in a really bad position at some point. Several of his ribs have been cracked, as well as his left thigh and upper right arm. What's weird is that most of these seems to have been done post mortum.”

”So... What was it that actually killed him?”

Siv shrugged and put on a new pair of gloves.

”I will be sending some samples to my colleagues to see if there's any substance in his body that shouldn't normally be there. I will let you know when I hear from them.”

She gently pushed Sigrun aside and continued digging around in the body. Sigrun waited for a few seconds to see if Siv was going to add anything more, but nothing. She waved before leaving the room to look for her partner. Emil was sitting at a desk just outside, his face hidden in his arms. Torbjörn greeted her when he saw her and patted Emil's back to let him know she was done.

”You alright, buddy?”

Emil nodded but didn't lift his head from the desk.

”...what'd you found out?”

His voice sounded muffled coming through his arms, but Sigrun pulled out a chair and settled down, backwards of course, on it. She thought for a moment how she was going to address the subject without upsetting her younger workmate, then decided to just be blunt with it.

”Not much. There had been a lot of violence, so someone really had it in for him. Siv couldn't tell much, but she wasn't quite done with the autopsy either. You heard about the board, but whoever did it also broke most of his ribs and some other bones in his body.”

He moved his head a little so he could look at her.

”...why?”

Sigrun shrugged.

”Hel if I know, but it's our job to figure it out. Siv's only supposed to tell us how he died. You feel like going for a cup of coffee?”

Emil smiled slightly at the mention of coffee and nodded. Sigrun got up from the chair and patted his back, leading the way back to the car. She stood there for a few seconds, seemingly considering something, before turning to Emil.

”It's not far, how about we walk? You don't look like you should get behind the wheel anyway.”

Emil rolled his eyes, but agreed to her suggestion. The sun was slowly setting, the autumn wind rustling the trees and shaking off the leaves. Emil kicked one of the piles, sending red and yellow leaves over both him and Sigrun. The two colleagues looked at eachother, laughed, and she picked up an armful of leaves and dropped them over him, a couple of them getting stuck inside his collar. Emil twisted a little, tried to get them away from there, but slipped on some wet leaves and landed face first on the grass. Sigrun kneeled beside him, waited for him to move.

”You feel better?”

”Yeah, thanks.”

She brushed the leaves off him and helped him to his feet again, and he stood on his toes and stretched to get a leaf that had gotten stuck in her hair, before pulling his fingers through her hair to get the strands to lay as they should again. She ruffled his hair and started walking again, causing him to huff, quickly fix his own hair and hurry after her.

The cashier waved at them as they entered the coffee shop and Sigrun hurried up to her. Emil looked around for a free table, noticing the one they usually sat at being occupied and took one closer to the cash register. Sigrun joined him soon after, and the cashier brought their coffee just a minute later.

”A new tough case, eh?” she asked and settled down at the table. ”Don't worry, I won't ask about it, I know the deal. And I haven't heard anything in case you wonder. Everyone know this is where the pigs come to drink...”

Sigrun and Emil smiled faintly at the word pigs.

”...so they keep quiet in here. If I had heard something, it would probably have to do with the Rat Shack in the ghetto. But,” she got up again, ”I haven't heard anything.”

Emil looked after her as she walked away and Sigrun sipped her coffee in silence for a couple of seconds.

”You wanna ask her out? Or are you thinking about the shack?”

Emil shook his head.

”Should we ask Mikkel about the pipe?”

”The pipe?”

”Yes, the one they found on the body, you know. Torbjörn said Mikkel had one as well. Only 100 ever made... You think that's the type of pipe Mister Andersen had?” Sigrun made a move to answer but Emil continued before she was able to. ”But why wouldn't he tell us then? Why would he say his grandfather had made it? Unless his grandfather made all 100 of them... Hey, if he's friend to your family, you know if there's a pipemaker in his family?”

”Not that I've heard off...”

”This whole thing is just weird. First the body, and then the pipe, and... then the pipe again?”

”We're not sure it's the same pipe.”

”...should we ask him?”

Sigrun leaned back, put her cup down and looked at the ceiling.

”...No. Not yet at least. We should go back and ask for more details. I can do that, you can ask Mikkel about the pipe if you want to. And you said you saw someone on the roof of the murder site, didn't you?”

Emil nodded.

”We should try and find out who that was. Maybe they saw something.”

”And the Rat Shack?” Emil asked and grabbed his cup. ”Should we check that out?”

Sigrun shook her head.

”Not yet. We don't really have any lead there, and if the shack has anything to do with it it's better to wait and lure them into a false sense of security.” She grabbed her cup again and finihed it off. ”You ready for the next round, little viking?”

Emil quickly chugged down his coffee, nodded and got up from the table. Sigrun smiled, led him outside and they started the walk back towards the station.

”...ey, Sigrun...” Emil started when they were almost back. ”How are you getting to mister Andersen's house?”

She stopped, looked at Emil.

”I guess I didn't think that through, did I? Feel like letting me use the car?”

”Pf, no, I don't want another homicide on the menu, especially not commited by you. I can drive you there.”

”Then you'd have to drive back, and then come and pick me up again.”

”I can wait in the parking lot, unless you want me to come along. We are partners.”

”Waste of time. Don't worry, I'll just run over there.”

”Sigrun”, Emil laughed, ”it's outside the city, not even you can run that far. You won't be there until nightfall. I'll drive you, I can talk to Mikkel tomorrow morning.”

The two of them stopped by the car and looked at each other over it. Sigrun leaned towards the car's roof.

”You sure?”

”Yes, Sigrun, I'm sure. Kriminalkommissarie Madsen will probably still be here in the morning, I'll just come in a little earlier tomorrow. Get in the car already.”

She grinned and did as he told her and he took the wheel and started the car. As it sprung to life he turned towards his partner, grinning.

”But you should really fix that licence, it's about time, don't you think?”

She punched his shoulder but grinned back.

”I told you, I'll do it when I have time.”

The car gently rolled out of the parking lot and Sigrun started fiddling with the radio, searching for a station she enjoyed. Emil ignored her fiddling, only because he had removed all buttons for the radio just so that she wouldn't be able to change station.

”How can you even listen to this? What is this even?”

”ABBA.”

Sigrun crossed her arms over her chest, muttering about the Swede being a disgrace to the proud people of the nord.

”You have icelanders in your family or what?”

”I just prefer Swedish music to that Norwegian crap you listen to.”

The discussion faded, neither of them actually interested in following it up. Emil hummed along to the music, quietly and out of tune, and after a couple of songs Sigrun hummed along as well. Emil parked outside the gates to mister Andersen's residence and leaned back.

”I'll wait for you here.”

Sigrun nodded and exited the car. She took a deep breath before going through the gate. She ignored the main entrance and walked along a tiny path that lead to the kitchen entrance. Trond was family, almost, and family didn't took the main entrance. She knocked on the door three times, glacing at her watch as she waited for it to open. It was almost four, meaning she wouldn't be able to stay for long. Trond never wanted company after dinner at five. The maid opened the door this time and Sigrun greeted her, pulled off her shoes and jacket and hurried to the study. She knocked one, two-three-four times before entering the door without waiting for an answer. Trond didn't look up from his papers, so she settled down on the floor infront of the desk.

Trond continued writing for a couple of minutes, made a quick call (”Yes, no, I don't care, just get it done.”) before turning to Sigrun. His face lit up a little when he saw her without her uniform and she beamed back towards him.

”So what brings you here? I'm old and probably too boring for you to hang out with.”

”Nah, you're cool and all, uncle Trond. I just wondered if you could tell me about your grandparents.”

”You usually don't care about history”, Trond noted as he got up from the chair. ”You always say 'looking back only leads to ambushes, opportunities is in the future', so why now?”

”Well, this is different! They're your history, and it felt like they were important to you. Uncle Trond, you're important to me, so I want to know what's important for you!”

He took a photo album of the shelf and settled down again, looking at Sigrun over his glasses. She continued beaming towards him and he motioned for her to take the chair and settle down beside him. She did so and he opened the album, showing her pictures of two people in their thirties.

”That's them? Wow, she looks... just like me.”

”She was a little shorter though. She owned a store close to the pier. That's how they met, he came there to get apples and ended up asking her out instead. They got married six months after meeting and eight months later my father was born.”

Sigrun didn't bother with the math, making children outside of marriage wasn't unheard of anyway. Instead she nodded, tried to get him to continue telling her about them.

”He started working in the store with her after that. They had living space just above it, so they could keep it open even while nursing a baby. People in the harbour got upset when the store was forced to close when they got older. Their children were busy with their own lives and couldn't help them run the store, so they didn't have any other choice, but...”

Trond let out a sigh and closed the album. Sigrun looked at him.

”Did you spend a lot of time with them?”

”Not as much as I wanted to. They had a lot of work with the store and we lived on the other side of the city. I wasn't allowed to go all the way by myself and mother and father rarely had time to follow me.”

There was a knock on the door and the butler peeked in.

”Sir, dinner is served. Should we set the table for one more?” he added when he noticed Sigrun.

”Nah, was just stopping by for a moment. Great seeing you, uncle Trond!”

”I do hope you won't be so long until your next visit.”

Trond got up from the chair and followed Sigrun to the dining room. They parted ways there, Sigrun grabbing her jacket before leaving the same way she came. Emil was outside the vehicle when she came, his eyes peering towards a building on the other side of the road.

”Yo, Emil!”

”Hi Sigrun”, he didn't look away from the building. ”Did you find something out?”

”You could say that”, she settled down in the car. ”Need to think it through, I'll tell you tomorrow. Are you coming or do I need to drive myself?”

Emil casted a last glance towards the building, before entering the car and starting up the engine.

”I think there was someone there.”

”Of course there was, people live there.”

”No, not that... Someone that... didn't quite belong.”

”How'd you see that from here anyway?”

Emil blushed and started driving. Electric Banana Band played from the stereo, but for once Sigrun didn't commented on it, too busy trying to figure out what Trond had just told her. Emil parked outside of the station, but neither of them got out of the car.

”...Emil, there's something going on here.”

He didn't answer and she didn't say anything more. Emil turned off the stereo, stared out through the windshield. Sigrun laid a hand on his shoulder before going out, waiting for him to move as well. He did after a while, nodded towards her.

”I guess I'll see you tomorrow then.”

”Yeah, you go get all the sleep now, city-boy. See you in the morning!”

She waved to him and hurried towards the station. He looked at the building for a while, traced the fireladder to the roof, then turned around and headed back home.

 


	2. Chapter 2

It was nearing six when Emil came to the station. It was starting to get busy, people were running all over. Emil greeted some of them, made his move towards Kriminalkomissarie Madsen's room, but was distracted by Siv.

”Emil! I know we have a briefing in just one hour, but you know I don't like going to those so could you follow me?”

”I had something to...” Emil let out a sigh. ”Nevermind, I'll come.”

Siv led him down the stairs. The building had an elevator, but Siv never used it and Emil didn't mind the extra exercise. He stopped by the table with Reynir's belongings, frowning. Something was missing, but he couldn't quite place it. Siv urged him to hurry up and he followed her into the room where Reynir's body had been. It was moved now, probably stored on the lowest floor in the morgue.

”There were drugs in his blood”, Siv started, typing away on the computer. ”A concocion of several types of drugs. They've tried to identify them, but it takes time.”

Emil stopped beside her, tried to understand what he could see on the computer, but Siv explained it.

”This is what they found in his blood. No match to any known drugs, but that's because the ingrediences have been mixed up. It's not like you can easily do a test to see if there's any heroin in the blood, you check what's in there that differ from normal, how much of the different substances there is and then you compare it to the normal drugs. This...” she gestured towards the computer, ”...is not normal.”

”And that means...?”

”That either Reynir is in some deep shit with druglords... or that whoever did this had medical knowledge. I mean... I might overlook something and there are of course other alternatives but those are most likely.”

”From what Tuuri Hotakainen said it didn't sound like he's the type of person to get himself into trouble with drug lords, so...” Emil scratched his head. ”Still leaves a lot of suspects.”

”Yes, I'm sorry I couldn't narrow it down further.”

”No worries, I bet you'll be able to figure out more before tomorrow.”

Emil looked at his watch. Thirty minutes left until the briefing. That should be enough to question Mikkel about the...

The pipe!

Emil rushed out again, looked carefully through Reynir's belongings. Siv followed him, looked curiously at what he was doing.

”Has anyone been here?”

She shook her head.

”Are you certain? No one? When did you leave last night?”

”Shortly after midnight, why?”

Emil frowned, searched through the belongings again, then shook his head.

”Never mind. I need to talk with Kriminalkommisarie Madsen.”

Emil left Siv, went back to the groundfloor. He looked at the exit for a couple minutes, knew Sigrun would come bursting through it any minute now, sweaty from her morningjog to the station. She would happily greet everyone, run into the shower they had in the basement even though she didn't like that part of the building and after that she would run to the briefing, ten minutes late, with her hair dripping. She wouldn't have eaten anything, because she never ate before her morning workout.

He pulled his gaze off the door, walked to the office of Kriminalkommisarie Madsen and knocked on the door. Torbjörn passed and he greeted his uncle, whistled a light tune as he waited for the door to open. He heard Sigrun calling hello from the entrance, heard her steps disappear down the metal staircase leading to the basement. The door infront of him opened and Mikkel Madsen looked at him.

”The briefing is in 5 minutes, Emil.”

”I know, this will be quick. Torbjörn said you had a tobacco pipe that looked exactly like the one our victim had.”

”If you are trying to say what I think you are...”

Emil frowned slightly, then relaxed.

”Oh, no, I'm not saying you have anything with it to do. I just wanted to ask what you could tell me about the pipes.”

”I wish I could”, Mikkel settled down behind the desk, started gathering his papers, ”but I can not assist you. Whatever Torbjörn saw must have been something else, I have never owned a tobacco pipe. I do not smoke.”

”Hmm, okay. I'm sorry to have bothered you.”

”Nothing to worry about, I am sorry I could not answer your questions.” Mikkel looked at his watch. ”It is time for the briefing, we should head out.”

Emil backed out of the office again, hurried to the upper floor where they had the meeting room and placed a brown paper bag on Sigrun's place before sinking down in his usual spot. Most people had already arrived when Mikkel came just as the clock struck seven. Mikkel turned on the projector, put some photos on the whiteboard and then they got started. First out was the case with Reynir. Emil told the others what Siv had found out, Torbjörn and Taru went over how the body had been hung up, drawing it up on the whiteboard so everyone could understand. While they were busy drawing Sigrun sneaked into the room, noticed the brown bag and smiled at Emil. She quickly finished the breakfast he had brought her before telling everyone what Tuuri had told them. After that Bosse, an old man with thick glasses, took over, quickly told everyone what he had found out about Reynir and then Mikkel took over again. He divided the different missions between the polices, giving Sigrun and Emil the mission to go and talk with Reynir's family.

Mikkel quickly moved on to the next case, a kidnapping in which Sigrun and Emil wasn't part of the investigation. There was a harware-store robbery, Torbjörn and Taru was certain they had found the robber and was awaiting a warrant to take him in for questioning. There had also been a couple of car-thefts, but most cars had been found and they agreed that it probably was teenagers since it didn't seem very organized. Mikkel asked Sigrun and Emil to stay behind when the meeting was over and they looked at each other, but followed his order.

”I am just interesting in hearing how you are doing on the special case I assigned you.”

He was keeping his voice low, in case some other police should pass the door during their private meeting, and Sigrun and Emil also kept their voices low.

”We're working on it. So far we haven't learned much”, Sigrun answered. ”Mister Andersen didn't want us hanging around long enough to search for clues.”

”We did get to question his maid and his butler!” Emil said, looking for the notebook in his pockets. ”It was quite interesting, but we did get some clues to follow up.”

”You should do that after you have talked with Reynir's family. Try to see if they can tell you if he had started hanging around in the wrong crowd or something, if they know anyone who would have a thorn in their side to him.”

Sigrun patted his shoulder.

”Don't worry, big guy, we've done questioning before, we'll take care of it.”

Emil finally found the notebook and nodded. Mikkel left the room and Sigrun was about to follow him, but Emil grabbed her sleeve.

”I think Mikkel is hiding something.”

Sigrun looked at him, waited for him to continue. Emil weighted words in his mouth, but couldn't figure out how to formulate them.

”I asked him about the pipe and, well... I don't think uncle would lie about something like that, but Mikkel denied. He said he had never smoked, but I remember that he was when I started here.”

”Well, he don't have any obligation to tell you about his bad habits.”

”I know, but if he could have told us something about the pipe, I thought maybe it could help us. Speaking of that”, Emil remembered when he had followed Siv earlier. ”The pipe is gone.”

”What do you mean 'gone'?”

”It wasn't there. Siv left the building after midnight and it was still there at that time so... No, wait. I don't think I actually asked her about that... Anyway, it's gone now.”

”Why didn't you ask her more?”

”I didn't want to make a big deal out of it just in case... you know, if it really _is_ an important clue.”

”Okay then”, Sigrun settled down on a chair and looked at Emil. ”Let's go over this. What do we know?”

”Trond lost track of a pipe that wasn't what he said it was”, Emil settled down on a chair next to Sigrun. ”Our victim was found with a pipe in his pocket. A pipe that later disappeared. Mikkel may have had a pipe on his desk, but unless we can get him to confess we can't know for sure. So far the only pipe we know anything about is the one Reynir had.”

Emil went silent in an attempt to recall Torbjörn's words from the day before, but Sigrun was faster.

”It was rare, only a small number was made.”

”100 of them...”

”And it made little sense that a shepherd had one. Do you remember how it looked?”

Emil looked at the ceiling, thought for a moment.

”Worn, old. It looked handmade.”

”That doesn't really help narrow it down much...”

”There were carvings in it, but I can't recall how they looked, I didn't think much about it.”

”A shame you don't have photogenetic memory.”

Emil pondered a few few seconds on what Sigrun meant.

”Photo _graphic_ memory, Sigrun.”

He got up from the chair again, started pacing the room.

”We don't know the time of death, but the body must have been hung up during the night. Someone must have really wanted to harm him because the body was damaged further after he had been killed.”

”Let's not talk about how it had been hung up”, Sigrun said and leaned back on the chair, watched Emil pacing. ”That must be significant somehow.”

Emil stopped and looked at Sigrun.

”The hardware store.  _ What _ had been stolen from there?”

”You really think that's connected?”

”I don't know, but why not? Why couldn't it be?”

”I'm not saying it couldn't, but... stuff like that rarely have a connection.”

”A-ha!” Emil said, as if that proved what he was saying. ”A-ha”, he repeated again and continued pacing.

”Okay, can we not look at the far-fetched theories? Unless you have something to actually come with we should leave.”

”Sigrun...” Emil stopped and looked out the window. ”Why would a shepherd have a pipe?”

She shrugged.

”To smoke with, I guess.”

”Why would a shepherd have a rare and valueable pipe?”

”Maybe it was a gift from his grandfather, I dunno.”

”Why would the murderer  _ leave _ a rare and valueable pipe with the shepherd he murdered?”

Sigrun massaged her templates.

”Emil, I have no idea where you're going.”

”I don't either. But why would... Sigrun, what if the pipe is  _ planted _ ?”

Sigrun got up, grabbed Emil's arm.

”Okay, enough with the theories, we're going to visit Reynir's family.”

She dragged him out of the room and they stopped by Bosse's desk to get Reynir's address.

”I never liked talking to the families”, Bosse said. ”That's why I asked to move here. No murders here, they said. And now this.”

”Oh, yes, you came from one of the big citites”, Emil said. ”Did... did you get many...”

Bosse nodded, his glasses almost fell off and he corrected them.

”It was always terrible when we got a call about one. Solving them on the other hand... It never made the deed undone and it rarely made the families feel good, but it was nice to know they could be brought to justice.” He gave Sigrun a note with the address to Reynir's family. ”Make sure you catch whoever did this.”

”We'll do our best.”

She grinned at Bosse, then started leaving. Emil quickly followed her, grabbed the note in her hand.

”This is pretty far out, it'll take us most of the day.”

”We're listening to some real music this time?”

”ABBA is real music.”

”That other one though...”

”Yeah, sorry about that. Used to listen a lot on them when I was young and I still find them good for a quick cheering-up.”

”You had a weird childhood”, she answered and opened the door. ”Gonna let me drive this time?”

”When you have a license.”

She shrugged, opened the door on the passenger side and settled down and Emil took the driver's seat. He gestured towards the glove compartment and told Sigrun to chose the music for the day. Sigrun dove into the pile of CDs and Emil backed out of the parking, started driving through the town. Sigrun found what she was looking for and  _ Amon Amarth  _ started blasting out of the speakers. Emil flinched at the sudden metal and turned the volume down a little.

”I don't even know why I have that one.”

”Because I put it there.”

Sigrun grinned and Emil shook his head, focused on the driving again. Sigrun sang along to the music, Emil not even able to figure out what they were singing. They passed the last few houses of the city, reached the country-side. Houses out there were scarce, far from each other. They got stuck in a herd of cows and had to wait half an hour before they could drive on, almost drove over a sheep and around eleven they finally stopped outside the correct house. Emil looked at the door and Sigrun patted his shoulder.

”Are you ready for this?”

”How could you ever get ready for this?”

”I don't know, but we need to do it. You up for it?”

”Not really.”

He opened the door, got out. Sigrun followed, led the way to the house and knocked three times on the door. They heard voices from inside, but after five minuted no one had opened and Sigrun knocked again, looked at the note in her hand.

”Árni Ragnarsson, we need to speak with you and your family. Please open the door.”

The door opened and a black-haired woman looked at Sigrun and Emil.

”We are innocent. I won't let you inside without a search warrant.”

Sigrun and Emil exchanged glances, then Sigrun lookedc at the woman again.

”I think you misunderstand. We are here to talk about Reynir Árnason. Could we...”

”What about him?” the woman interrupted.

”We need to ask some questions.”

She looked at Emil and raised an eyebrow. The woman started closing the door again.

”We don't talk about him here. Go back to where you came from.”

The door was closed. Sigrun blinked then knocked again. And again. No answer. Emil left Sigrun by the door and took a walk around the house. It was a one floor-building, quite large. The windows was small and all had their curtains pulled so you couldn't see inside. There was a herb-garden on the back, and an earth-cellar about ten meters from the house. He could see a sheep-fence beyond it and nodded. Reynir had been a shepherd after all. But something must have happened.  _ We don't talk about him here. _ Why didn't they talk about him?

Emil continued his walk, noticed a pile of large rocks and a sturdy man with black hair sitting on top of it. He looked around and walked over there, coughed when he came to the rocks.

”Hello there, I'm Polisassistent Västerström. Mind if I join you?”

The man didn't say anything, only moved to the side a little, and Emil climbed up.

”Are you perhaps one of Reynir Árnason's brothers?”

The man looked around, then leaned closer to Emil.

”I'd use that name carefully around here if I were you”, the man whispered.

”But you are his family, right?”

The man nodded, looked around.

”Why are you asking about him?”

”I'm sad to say that I'm the bearer of grim news. Reynir was murdered a couple days ago...”

The man clenched his hands, looked at his lap. His shoulders sank a little, but apart from that he didn't move.

”I'd like to be able to say I was surprised, but... I'm not. I've been waiting for those news. Do you know who did it?”

”Not yet, but we have all our men on the case.”

”You have questions.”

”Yes, sadly there are some questions I need to ask.”

”I can't help you”, the man said and grabbed the notebook Emil had pulled out. ”We're not allowed to talk about him”, he started writing in the corner of one of the pages. ”I am sorry to say that you have travelled all this way in vain.”

The man gave the notebook back and looked at Emil.

”You won't get any answers here, you should take your workmate and go back to town.”

Emil knew the talk was over, he wouldn't get anything more. He thanked the man, climbed back down and looked at the notebook. One sentence had been written in it.  _ Go to the Jonsen-farm. _ He continued around the house, back to the front, where Sigrun was still knocking on the door. He went up to her, laid a hand on her arm to distract her from the door and gestured back towards the car. She opened her mouth to protest, but he caught her eyes and she closed it again, followed him to the car. He gave her the notebook before leaving the driveway.

”Know where that is?”

Sigrun shooked his head, pulled out her cellphone. Emil drove aimlessly while she talked to whoever she had called.

”Not far from here”, she said when she ended the call. ”Left next turn, straight ahead for 5 kilometers and then left again and we should see it.”

Emil followed the instructions and stopped by a building. To call it house wouldn't be fair to houses. Half of it had fallen down, the rest looked like it wouldn't be able to stand even one gust of wind. The stone fence around the yard was equally worn, and the yard was covered in weed. Emil saw sheep by the side of the building, heard a dog barking. The two of them went out of the car, looked around.

”Why did we have to go here?” Sigrun asked.

”Västerström!” a voice called before Emil was able to answer. ”In here!”

Emil and Sigrun looked at each other, then followed the voice. It came from the unbroken part of the house and as they entered Emil noticed the man he had talked with just an hour ago.

”Took you long enough”, he stretched his hand out to Emil. ”I'm Ólafur Árnason. I apologize about my family.”

”I'm Emil Västerström and this is Sigrun Eide. Is there a reason you wanted to meet us here?”

”Yes”, Ólafur settled down on the floor and started up a fire in the fireplace. ”Old Jonsen is out so we can talk freely here. Do you want some tea?”

Ólafur placed a kettle over the fire. Emil settled down on the floor as well and Sigrun looked between the two men.

”What is going on?”

”Emil told me you had questions, I might be able to give some answers. I couldn't do it at home, they're listening.”

Sigrun settled down and Ólafur looked into the fire.

”Could you... tell me more about what happened to him?”

Sigrun told him about how they found him, what Siv had said about the body. Ólafur didn't take his eyes off the fire, but his shoulders sank as Sigrun continued talking.

”That's what we know”, Sigrun finished. ”What's up with your family?”

”It's complicated. They weren't happy with his decision to move into the city. He was supposed to take over the farm.”

”Doesn't sound very complicated to me”, Sigrun said.

Emil took his notebook out again, prepared to write down anything that could help them.

”You said you had been waiting for news about his death, why? Did he have any enemies?”

Ólafur shook his head.

”Not that I know of, but he had an ability of being a little bit too nosy and a little bit too trusting. It's not a very good combination.”

”Are you sure you can't think of anyone who'd want to harm him?”

”I can think of a lot”, Ólafur said, his face growing dark, ”but none that'd be ready to murder.”

”Could you tell us a little about him?” Sigrun asked.

Ólafur nodded, poured tea into three cups and settled down on the floor again, handing one cup to Sigrun and one to Emil before he started talking. He told them how happy their parents had been when they got Reynir, their first and only biological child. He told them that Reynir had been homeschooled, how Reynir spent most of his free time with the family's sheep and dogs. How Reynir one day had just left, leaving only a note behind to eplain where he was going. After that the family had stopped talking with him and about him.

”But you never got upset with him?”

”He was my favorite”, Ólafur smiled. ”I tried getting the others to forgive him but they wouldn't. We used to meet here, Old Jonsen just thought it was funny. You could ask him later, but he's gotten a bit gaga lately.”

”And he lives here?”

Ólafur nodded.

”I have offered to help him rebuild, but he keeps saying the house will stand as long as he does.”

Sigrun raised an eyebrow and Emil nudged her with his elbow. Ólafur didn't seem to notice their silent exchange.

”Reynir never told me much about his life in the city though. I don't know who he met or what he did. He never wanted to talk about it, he was always more interested in hearing about the lambs and the dogs and our family. He wasn't upset that they had turned their backs to him. Said he could understand it. I think it still hurt him though...”

Emil's pen scribbled as Ólafur talked. After a while he noticed evening had fallen. Sigrun stretched, pulled a couple of cards from her pocket and handed them to Ólafur.

”We need to head back now, thanks for the help. My number is on there, if you come to think of anything important you missed today. And if you could tell Jonsen that we will come by tomorrow to talk with him it would be great.”

Ólafur nodded, collected the empty cups and put them in his bag. He shook hands with Sigrun and Emil, and they left the building, settled down in the car and started driving. Sigrun looked through Emil's notes as they drove, not really reading them.

”What did you think of him?”

It took a few seconds before Emil registered the question, too busy keeping an eye on the sheep on the side of the road in case one of them would suddenly rush infront of the car, but when he finally caught it he stopped the car and looked at Sigrun.

”Honestly? I'm not sure.”

”Mhm... I know what you mean.”

”It's just... he was too willing to help, wasn't he?”

”Mm... and where was Jonsen?”

She looked through the notes again.

”It's weird though. If Ólafur and Reynir really were such buddies, why didn't Reynir tell him anything?”

Emil hit his forehead against the wheel and Sigrun's eyes widened.

”You okay? Left something behind?”

”I forgot to ask if Reynir smoked. It was on my mind the whole time but then it just dropped out of there.”

”Remember when?”

Emil shook his head, tried to think back.

”I think it was when Jonsen came up. I don't know, there was something eerie over what he said. Why wouldn't Jonsen accept the help?”

”We'll find out when we visit him tomorrow, don't worry.”

Sigrun patted Emil's back and he started driving again. She took out the Amon Amarth-CD and put ABBA in the stereo. Emil smiled thankfully towards her. They drove in silence for a while, but when they got closer to the town Emil turned to Sigrun.

”You want go to Trond again?”

Sigrun shook her head.

”Won't give anything. We should head back and see what we can find out about Jonsen. And maybe Ólafur as well.”

Emil nodded, drove back to the station. He parked in his usual spot, left the car together with Sigrun and almost walked into her when she suddenly stopped.

”Tuuri Hotakainen, right?” Sigrun asked.

Emil looked at the woman who was standing outside the station and lifted a hand in greeting when he recognized her from the day before. Tuuri looked nervously at Sigrun and Emil said he would go ahead with the investigation an hurried inside the building. He looked back outside and saw Sigrun leading Tuuri away. He turned his back to the door, went to the upper floor and the meeting room. There wouldn't be a meeting in there for another week but he had found that his thinking improved in there. He took one of the whiteboard pens, the black one, and chewed a little on it while staring at the empty board. On the left side he wrote ”Reynir”, the name of their victim, and short notes about what Siv had found before backing away. On the right side he wrote ”Trond”, before backing away again and staring at the two names.

Emil was certain Trond wasn't the murderer, but inbetween the two names he wrote ”pipes”. He drew a line from both names to the word, then two lines from there. He wrote the questionmarks below the line on Trond's side, before writing down what Torbjrön had said about Reynir's pipe below the other line. He drew two new lines below Trond's name, noting down the butler and the maid below those. He made a note about Reynir's pipe disappearing, then about how the butler and maid had spent the days when the pipe was stolen.  _ Call the mother _ , Emil wrote on the lower part of the board, followed by  _ Did Reynir smoke _ . He took a step back again.

The two cases could of course be unconnected, but Emil's gut told him they were. Sigrun never liked when he refered to his gut-feeling. She trusted her own, but never wanted to admit to anyone else's. He drew another line from Reynir's name and wrote Ólafur. He didn't know were he was going. He made a note about Ólafur not knowing anything about Reynir's life and also added another line for Reynir's family, which he crossed over since they wasn't talking. He also drew a line from the one onnecting Reynir and Ólafur and wrote  _ Old Jonsen _ beneath it.

He stepped back and imediately stepped up again, adding a third line beneath the pipes. Did Mikkel have one? Another step back and he looked at what he had drawn. So far they knew so little. He heard steps and saw Torbjörn passing the room and quickly slipped after him.

”Torbjörn, how did it go with the hardware store?”

”Hm? Oh”, Torbjörn looked away. ”Turned out it wasn't our suspect after all...”

”Back to square one?”

”Pretty much. We still have some other people to bring in for questioning.”

Torbjörn sank down by his desk and leaned back. Emil leaned against the desk.

”Torbjörn, you remember the pipe?”

Torbjörn frowned, then nodded.

”Mikkel said he didn't own one, so could you tell me more?”

”I'm sorry, I don't know much about them. My grandfather sold his to some collector and I wasn't interested back then so I didn't ask him about it.”

”Do you know who the collector was?”

”Not really. I didn't care much about me grandfather's business, I was too busy with school and entertaining your father.”

Emil straightened up again, let out a sigh.

”Thank you anyway.”

”You heard anything from the family?”

”No, they didn't want to talk with us... We're trying to figure out our next approach.”

”Where's Sigrun, speaking of that?”

”Talking with our only witness.” Emil stretched. ”We'll solve it somehow. You know if Bosse is in?”

Torbjörn gestured down the stair.

”Saw him talking with Madsen a while ago. Probably something important.”

”Thanks, I'll talk to you later.”

Emil went down to the ground floor again, stopped outide of Mikkel's room. Bosse was in there so he knocked, opened the door slightly and looked at him.

”I need to talk with you when you're done in here. I'll be in the meeting room.”

Bosse nodded and Emil went back upstairs, looked at the whiteboard again. He went over the prior day in his mind to see if he had missed something. It started with the body. He drew a square in the lower right corner to sort the things in. Reynir was a bard according to Tuuri and Emil added that to the board as well. Nice, no one would want to hurt him. Those things were rarely true and he decided not to write it. Wires. How did the person go ahead and put them up on their own? Then there was that figure on the roof. Who was that? Did they know something? Should he send out an notification in papers to look for them? He had to decide before the next day.

Emil wrote ”How did the body get there” together with the other questions, then continued through the prior day. They went back to the station and had to go to Mister Andersen. The butler knew the combination, Emil noted it down, but Emil's gut told him the butler hadn't actually done the deed. He had not told the whole truth however, both Emil and Sigrun had agreed on that, so he might still have with the theft to do. That was wild speculation though, and Emil filed those away for later. The maid had twins, Emil wrote it down as well. After Trond they had returned to the station. He had run into Torbjörn outside... No, wait. He had seen the person from the crimescene again, on the roof. Then he almost fell over Torbjörn, who took him to Siv. Siv told them about the damages she had discovered and then... Emil scratched his head. They had gone to the coffee shop and the waitress had given them the name ”The Rat Shack”. Emil noted that down. He had forgotten about it, because it wasn't a real clue, but maybe they should pay it a visit.

The door opened and Bosse came inside, looked at the whiteboard.

”What are you doing?”

”Organizing my thoughts”, Emil put the pen down and turned towards Bosse. ”I need to find information about Reynir's family and whoever owns the Jonsen's farm. Could you help me?”

Bosse nodded, gestured for Emil to follow him and went to his desk. He printed some papers he already had, gave them to Emil.

”That's all I've found so far. Do you know Jonsen's first name?”

Emil shook his head, but Bosse smiled.

”No worries, I'll find what you're looking for, it'll just take a little longer. Does he have anything with the case to to?”

”Not sure yet”, Emil watched as Bosse typed away on the computer. ”This case is pretty much everywhere right now so we're following all the leads we have.”

”Like the pipe?” Bosse smiled. ”It's probably just a pipe.”

”Sigrun says the same thing, but I figured it could be good to keep in the mind. Anyway, they're not on your table.”

”Just don't put all your energy on them. This will take some time”, Bosse said and looked at the screen. ”You should do something else while I work, I'll call you when I have something.”

”There you are!” Sigrun called and Emil turned around to face her. ”Was searching for you downstairs.”

”Was gathering my thoughts a little.”

Emil thanked Bosse, then nodded to the meeting room. Sigrun followed him in there and looked at the board.

”Nothing new?”

Emil shook his head.

”Let me just finish this off, tell me if I've missed something. After the coffee we went to Trond again. What did he say?”

Emil picked up the pen and Sigrun settled down in a chair, looked at Emil.

”Not much. His grandparents worked in a store in the harbour, which ate all of their time. They probably married because she got pregnant. It sounds like he couldn't have made the pipe. I didn't ask much because it wasn't an interrogation, just his favorite niece asking about her favorite uncle's family.”

Sigrun grinned, but Emil bit the pen again.

”It doesn't help us much.”

Sigrun's grin faded.

”Yeah, no, it don't. But we know he lied about stuff now.”

”Yeah, that's good at least. We don't know why or anything though.”

”Emil, could you stop trying to act like a superior?”

”Not until you start behaving like one. What did Tuuri want?”

”She just needed to talk. She can't talk with her brother because he'll lock her up if he hears what she saw, and the only other person she has is her cousin, who apparently doesn't talk.”

Emil looked at the watch, chewed on the pen again.

”This whole thing is just weird”, he yawned. ”Anyway, we went back to the station and that was yesterday. Let's go through today quickly before ending for the day. I came to the station to talk with Madsen, but Siv caught me instead. She told me Reynir had drugs in his blood.”

Emil pointed to the word drugged under Reynir's name and Sigrun nodded.

”Then I talked to Mikkel. No pipe and he didn't smoke. Then we had the meeting.”

”Where we went through all these things”, Sigrun getured at the board and Emil nodded.

”I know, sorry, I just want to see all of it. Then we went to the farm, where no one wanted to talk with us.”

”Except Ólafur”, Sigun pointed to the name, ”But not there.”

”Not there”, Emil agreed and pointed at Jonsen's farm. ”But we didn't actually learned anything, just that there are lots of secrets covering this case. And now we're here.”

”Now we're here, and did you come to any conclusion?”

”Not really”, Emil looked at the papers Bosse had given him. ”I'm going to take these with me home and read through them.”

”Great idea. And tomorrow, how do you feel about re-visiting the crime-scene?” She pointed to the left corner of the board. ”That should be the easiest way to get some answers.”

Emil nodded, put the pen down.

”And then the Jonsen's farm.”

He gathered the papers, opened the door. Sigrun got up from her seat and followed him outside. They said goodbye to Bosse before leaving the building, then said goodbye to each other and headed home.

 


End file.
